UA BSC 108 Final Exam Study Guide (2025/2026) – Pass with
Confidence Using Verified Answers! Graded A+
What do all living organisms need to sustain life? - Nutrients, water, and energy
What is energy? - The capacity to do work
What are the different types of energy? - Kinetic, potential, thermal, chemical, and more
How do we measure energy? Why? - Joules or calories, to quantify energy changes
What is the study of energy? - Thermodynamics
What is a calorie? - A unit of energy
What is a Calorie? (there is a difference between this one and the one above.) - A kilocalorie, or 1000
small calories
What is the First Law of Thermodynamics? Know it and what it means. - Energy cannot be created or
destroyed, only transferred or changed in form
Why is heat lost in biological systems? - Because no process is perfectly efficient
Where does new energy come from? How is most energy lost (in what form)? - The sun; lost as heat
What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics? Know it and what it means. - Entropy of an isolated
system always increases
What is entropy? - Measure of disorder
How do you make a reaction go that requires energy? - Provide energy (like ATP)
, What is activation energy? - The energy needed to start a reaction
What is an enzyme and how do they work? - Biological catalysts that speed up reactions by lowering
activation energy
What factors affect how well enzymes work? - Temperature, pH, substrate concentration
How does an enzyme inhibitor work? - Binds to enzyme and reduces its activity
What is ATP and what is it used for? - Energy currency of the cell
How do you get energy from ATP? - By breaking its high-energy phosphate bonds
What is the difference between diffusion and osmosis? - Diffusion: movement of molecules; osmosis:
diffusion of water
What is hyper, hypo and isotonic? - Hyper: high solute concentration, hypo: low solute concentration,
iso: equal solute concentration
What happens to red blood cells if you place them in a hyperosmotic, hypoosmotic or isosmotic? -
Hyper: shrink, hypo: swell, iso: no change
Be able to look at two solutions and tell which is hyper or hypoosmotic. - Higher solute
concentration: hyper, lower: hypo
Be able to look at two solutions and tell which way osmosis will occur? - Water moves from hypo to
hyper
What is a producer? Consumer? - Producer: makes own food; Consumer: eats others
What is a receptor? - Protein that receives signals
Confidence Using Verified Answers! Graded A+
What do all living organisms need to sustain life? - Nutrients, water, and energy
What is energy? - The capacity to do work
What are the different types of energy? - Kinetic, potential, thermal, chemical, and more
How do we measure energy? Why? - Joules or calories, to quantify energy changes
What is the study of energy? - Thermodynamics
What is a calorie? - A unit of energy
What is a Calorie? (there is a difference between this one and the one above.) - A kilocalorie, or 1000
small calories
What is the First Law of Thermodynamics? Know it and what it means. - Energy cannot be created or
destroyed, only transferred or changed in form
Why is heat lost in biological systems? - Because no process is perfectly efficient
Where does new energy come from? How is most energy lost (in what form)? - The sun; lost as heat
What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics? Know it and what it means. - Entropy of an isolated
system always increases
What is entropy? - Measure of disorder
How do you make a reaction go that requires energy? - Provide energy (like ATP)
, What is activation energy? - The energy needed to start a reaction
What is an enzyme and how do they work? - Biological catalysts that speed up reactions by lowering
activation energy
What factors affect how well enzymes work? - Temperature, pH, substrate concentration
How does an enzyme inhibitor work? - Binds to enzyme and reduces its activity
What is ATP and what is it used for? - Energy currency of the cell
How do you get energy from ATP? - By breaking its high-energy phosphate bonds
What is the difference between diffusion and osmosis? - Diffusion: movement of molecules; osmosis:
diffusion of water
What is hyper, hypo and isotonic? - Hyper: high solute concentration, hypo: low solute concentration,
iso: equal solute concentration
What happens to red blood cells if you place them in a hyperosmotic, hypoosmotic or isosmotic? -
Hyper: shrink, hypo: swell, iso: no change
Be able to look at two solutions and tell which is hyper or hypoosmotic. - Higher solute
concentration: hyper, lower: hypo
Be able to look at two solutions and tell which way osmosis will occur? - Water moves from hypo to
hyper
What is a producer? Consumer? - Producer: makes own food; Consumer: eats others
What is a receptor? - Protein that receives signals
